The Adventures of Tom Riddle and Qwicky Wicky
by The Anonymouse2
Summary: Or how Tom Riddle wasn't always bad.
1. Chapter 1

**This idea randomly popped into my brain the other day. Doesn't really have too much of a plot, but I know how I'll end and start it. I just may need some prompts for in between. Something (hopefully) fluffy and (slightly) humorous. We'll see how it goes.**

Tom Riddle was sad. Well, not sad. Desolate, really. Miserable. Dejected.  
It was the stupid orphans.  
His stupid fellow orphans.  
They'd been learning about animals.  
Snakes, to be exact.  
Tom really liked snakes.  
He had raised his hand to ask a question.  
 _"What language do snakes speak?"  
_ That had earned him a confused look. The other children giggled quietly.  
 _"Tom, dear...snakes don't speak."  
"Yes, they DO!"  
"Tom, listen. Snakes and other animals REALLY DON'T-"  
"YES THEY DO!"  
_Tom had launched into a loud bout of hissing, garbled and shrill.  
 _"SEE?"_ Tom proclaimed. Everyone stared at him. He shrank a little into his seat. _"It sounds like that."_ He mumbled.  
Then the ENTIRE CLASS had burst into hysterical laughter. Tom slumped down even further.  
 _"Now, now, it's not very nice to laugh at Tom..."  
"But he's so FUNNY!" _One child jeered. Tom's face grew red.  
 _"Tom just asked a question..."  
"A STUPID question!" _More laughter.  
 _"Tom ALWAYS asks stupid questions."_ Tom sniffed. He felt tears forming in the corners of his eyes.  
He was NOT going to cry. He was six years old. Six year olds didn't cry.  
Apparently six year olds could think of many, many, insults.  
Tom's bottom lip had trembled and quaked as the other children got creatively mean.  
He was NOT going to cry. He was NOT going to cry. He was NOT going to cry...in front of the others.  
Stifling sobs, he leaped to his feet and ran towards the door.  
 _"TOM!"_  
But nothing was going to stop him.  
He sprinted all the way into his room and slammed the door before falling onto his bed and curling into a ball, sobbing.

This is where he was now. The tears had dried up a few minutes earlier, and now he was just rocking, choking in breaths through a stuffy red nose.  
A bang on the door startled him.  
"Tom! What on Earth do you think you're doing in there! Why aren't you outside with the others and that kind visiting zoologist?"  
It was the matron.  
But Tom wasn't paying attention.  
Tom wasn't paying attention because he wasn't the only one startled by the matron's loud knock.  
"Leave me alone." Tom called through his stuffy nose, red rimmed eyes fixated on a small, emerald green snake stretched out in front of his bed that had been startled out of a hole in the wall.  
"Don't speak to me that way, Tom!"  
"Leave me alone please."  
"Tom..."  
"I'll be back down in a minute."  
"Alright Tom. Hurry up, though!"  
"Okay!"  
Tom was lying through his teeth.  
He had no intention of going back down there.  
He watched the snake.  
Tom liked snakes.  
He liked the way they tasted the air with their tongues. _Smelled_ the air with their tongues.  
The way their sinuous bodies slid against the ground.  
The way their shimmery scales reflected the light at a certain angle, and camouflaged perfectly the next.  
Their beautiful eyes.  
And this snake had especially beautiful eyes.  
They were almond shaped and golden, with hazel tinting the edges.  
The slit-like pupil was a deep black.  
And, for some reason he couldn't explain, this snake's eyes were...intuitive?  
They looked right through him, yet stared intently like they understood his every word, his every thought.  
The little snake didn't run away. It just looked at Tom.  
"Are you wondering about my face?"  
The snake seemed to nod.  
"It looks like this because I was crying."  
The snake cocked it's head.  
"I was crying because I was sad."  
Another head cock.  
"I'm sad because I don't have any friends."  
The snake looked at Tom. The light blinked off of it's eyes.  
Tom leaned over his bed until his head was almost above the snake.  
The snake didn't move.  
"Would you like to be my friend?" Tom asked very quietly.  
The snake's tongue flickered out once.  
Tom took that as a yes.


	2. Chapter 2

"I need to grow up NOW so I can leave here."

Tom Riddle slunk into his room and shut the door. Sulkily. Just like he had done every day after lunch with his 'charming' fellow orphans. But this time was different. This time, a friend was waiting for him.

"sssssss" A little emerald green snake was basking under the window, the dirty, broken, one with smudges from when Tom had pressed his face up against it, peering outside to see what was happening beyond his pathetic orphanage life.

"Nice to see you again!" Tom's face brightened as he crouched down a few feet away from the snake, careful not to spook it. Although, with this snake, that hardly seemed a problem. The little snake, whom Tom had only discovered a few short hours ago, earlier that morning, had remained in Tom's room for the selfsame amount of time since Tom had found it there. The little snake was his friend, Tom had decided.

"ssssss"

"Yeah." Tom smiled a little. "Me too. D'you want to know what happened?"

The snake bobbed it's head. Tom smiled again.

"I was in line for my food, an' then some big kid shoved me and he said...he said..." Tom furrowed his eyebrows and deepened his voice in an imitation of the 'big kid'. "He said ' **Outta my way, small fry!** '" Tom frowned.

"An' then...an' then...that made me mad. So I told him...I said 'I ain't no potato!' An' then...an' then he LAUGHED at me! An' I don't know why, 'cause I'm NOT a potato. An' then EVERYBODY started laughing and calling me a potato! An' I don' understand!" Tom's bottom lip trembled ever so slightly. The little green snake hissed again, and cocked it's head. It seemed to understand.

Tom reached out a trembling hand. "You're a good friend." He said to the snake. "D'you...d'you mind if I petcha?" The snake didn't say anything. Tom reached out his hand even further, until his fingers were hovering just inches above the snake's emerald, scaly, head. The snake didn't react. Tom pet the snake.

"You're a REALLY good friend." Tom mused. "In fact, you're the only friend I've got. D'you mind if I give you a name?" The snake darted between Tom's legs and whipped around until he was behind Tom's foot.

"You're fast." Tom noted. "I'm gonna name you Qwicky Wicky, and we're gonna be friends." He poked his finger down in front of the snake, who didn't move an inch. It's tongue flickered out, the way snake tongues do, grazing Tom's finger.

"Yup." Tom grinned, beginning to pet the snake once more.

"We're gonna be BEST friends.


End file.
